Posts from 2008

Leaving her native Cuba to pursue her music career, Addys Mercedes has been recording in Barcelona, Duesseldorf and New York with her musician friends from around the globe. While Addys doesn’t bring anything innovative to the heyday of Afro-Cuban, it’s the energetic bouncing patterns that keep my hips gladly swaying to the rhythm. The spicy hot and pulsating afro-beat, solid production and a warm summery vibe of “Afro D’Mercedes” makes it the standout track of Nomad (2003).

Mature beyond her years, Philadelphia native Melody Gardot possesses a very natural musicality and a silky, versatile voice. While comparisons to the standards of Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux are justified, Melody’s confident grace and elegance shine throughout “Goodnite” and “Worrisome Heart”. With her tasteful and warm phrasing, moving seamlessly between the mellow old-time blues, jazz influences and acoustic folk, Melody captures the essence of the subtle beauty, confessional and timeless songwriting.

My good friends at Betahouse, a coworking space in Boston, asked me to put together a mix for their latest party. I was delighted to do so. My mate Tom Kershaw and I boiled down our fave tracks to a solid set.

I continued in the same vein as the Breeze & Sweat mix from 2006 – a sultry, funky, jazzy, chill to hot mix of tunes.

A few funky ones have debuted on Aurgasm before (Bahamadia, Flevans & Freddie), Kraak And Smaak deliver both the hot Max Sedgley and their own brand-new track, and Boston-natives Soul Clap close with some techno heat.

Fusing the strains of the centuries-old traditions, modern and the experimental, Israeli collective Panic Ensemble creates an intensely dramatic, cabaret-infused sound and appealing theatrical atmosphere. Playing a wide range of instruments, such as viola, accordion, contrabass, keyboards and percussion, the eight musicians of Panic Ensemble mix the expressive Klezmer melodies, massive rock energy and jazz influences. In their recently released self-titled album, Panic Ensemble weave their original arrangements with electronic subtleties and powerful, partly based on professional literature lyrics.

Scott Hansen fosters an ambiance causing me to envision a chilled-out, trippy escapade through Fraggle Rock; perhaps after eating too many Doozer buildings. Like the complex, symbiotic relationships and events intertwined in their colorful, simply-presented world, there are many elements combined in Tycho to nurture a magic, enveloping presence.

When I first heard the gentle tunes of Alex & Sam, it was absurd how quickly I became enamored with their jazz-influenced, indie folk sound. Throughout their debut E.P., Sounds Like This: Part One, the duo’s deceptively simple melodies and intimate vocals are paired with full strings, keyboards, horns and a gentle percussion that keeps the whole record moving. Whether it’s Alex or Sam taking the vocal lead (or both), each song is a gem, lovely and unexpected.

Butterfly’s wings lift measures as Farryl’s voice strengthens chords bound to your heartstrings. From an open book on the north shore of KZN, South Africa, he sings his life in pages charted by notes and emotional highlights. Like a good friend in a local pub, watching a few beers disappear with, he’s there, standing by a mic, helping slay those grumpy distractions away. Where faint sounds of surf whisper through quiet nights, and feelings billow like smoke from campfire lights, there is cast his first chapter’s reminisce.

There are a lot of things happening in the Balkans’ music scene: in most cases unheard and unknown widely. While there’s an obvious lack of coverage on Eddy Meets Yannah in the blogosphere, the Zagreb-based duo was praised by Gilles Peterson of BBC’s Radio 1 and has remixed musical pieces of such artists as Elisabeth Shepherd and Bobby Caldwell. With Eddy at the decks and Yannah’s vocal and arrangement talents, the two experiment in mixing sweaty broken beats, nu-jazz and soulful house. Unless you listen closely to the lyrics, you might not even recognize “Can’t Hide Love” is a futuristically-retro version of the classic Earth, Wind and Fire track.

Last summer I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Stockholm, Sweden. The music scene is incredibly active there, but if you go expecting to see some DJs or global acts you know, you might be a bit surprised; the country produces so much music that it’s pretty self-sustaining. Amanda Jenssen emerged out of their Idol 2007 competition and just scored a #1 spot on the charts with this track, and yet, there’s hardly any coverage outside of Scandinavia. The chorus has an obvious pop sensibility, but her soul-driven vibe (think: Amy Winehouse) is showcased in the verses. (Thx, Christofer!)

Referring to her own style as laid back electro-blues, actively performing, DJ-ing and remixing, Melbourne-born Justine Electra reflects the surreal electronic adventures of Berlin’s underground scene, techno clubs and squat parties. Using a bunch of loops and samples, Justine incorporates her experimental attempts with a doze of subtle bitterness in her standout track “Killalady”. Repeated sound effects, bluegrass harmonica riff and the trippy lyrics of “Blues & Reds” is another example of her eccentric mix of musical oddities.